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CA Fins Ara Social
Fins Ara!
A Social Project
Fins Ara was born in 2019 in the city of Barcelona from a worrying social reality. A reality that still confronts us, hurts and incites us to work, for the sake of a more just, diverse and inclusive society.
Our professional careers in the third sector brought us closer to groups that are invisible to a large part of the population. One of them is the group of older people in situations of involuntary isolation and unwanted loneliness. Daily contact with these people allowed us to understand the existence of these realities and recognize that they represent an even greater challenge for those with mobility difficulties, especially for those who live in buildings without elevators or with staggered sections.
Beyond the loss of ties and social networks due to aging, many exclusions occur due to the combination of mobility problems with accessibility problems, impossible to overcome due to common conditions in advanced ages. This represents a problem for older people and people with functional diversity, being forced to remain alone, and to limit their spaces and connections due to living in buildings without an elevator. Architectural barriers restrict their freedom and the real exercise of the Right to the City.
This was what motivated the birth of Fins Ara, as a project with a social vocation aimed at combating architectural barriers and proposing innovative alternatives to accessibility and mobility problems.
The desire to universalize our services prompted us to apply for various public and private subsidies, and to collaborate with non-profit entities, in order to reach those people who need solutions, but who lack financial resources.
Thus, since 2020, we have applied to various calls, obtaining the following subsidies:
Projects and grants
Since 2022 we have been collaborating with the Baixem al Carrer program, an initiative of the Coordinadora d'Enitats del Poble-sec. The program was born in 2009 and is dedicated to assisting older people who are at risk of isolating themselves in their homes due to reduced mobility problems or architectural barriers. Thanks to volunteers, professionals and technical aids such as portable stairlifts, these people can enjoy their neighborhood and city in company. Baixem al Carrer also supports elderly people in residences who lack a social network to go out.
Its main objective is to combat isolation, loneliness, ageism, abuse of the elderly and the digital divide, encouraging participants to strengthen their ties with the community.
If you want to know more you can access the program website:
People Fixing the World
Also during 2022, in collaboration with the Xera Educational Association and with the support of the Generalitat of Catalonia through the call for "Subsidies for general interest programs charged to the tax allocation of 0.7% of personal income tax", we carry out a more ambitious project than those previously carried out.
We continue to offer the service of ascending and descending stairs for elderly people with reduced mobility, but we also provide spaces for group activities and introduce new axes of intervention. In this way, we were able to continue combating situations of unwanted loneliness and involuntary isolation.
The group activities were meetings between older people who had mobility difficulties and autonomous older people. The objective was to promote dialogue, cooperation and the construction of social fabric, in order to combat exclusion processes. In the group spaces, we proposed topics of social interest - especially those that directly affect the elderly population - with the aim of creating a document that reflected the voices of older people. We wanted to know what this group, whose voices are usually silenced, had to say.
Likewise, participants were able to enjoy cultural activities thanks to the Apropa Cultura program. We believe it is necessary to highlight that we all benefit from the richness of intergenerational exchange during the development of the project.
In 2021, we initiated collaboration with the Associació Educativa Xera. From this collaboration arose the Project Fins Ara, initially funded by the Barcelona City Council through its "General Grant Call" and by the Barcelona Provincial Council within the framework of the "Grants for projects and activities to entities in the field of social policies".
These public funds allowed us to contribute to active aging, combat situations of unwanted loneliness and involuntary isolation, guarantee accessibility and the Right to the City for a specific number of participants, and promote the enrichment of Barcelona's social fabric.
This grant allowed us to:
- Promote a solution to architectural barriers limiting mobility and accessibility.
- Assist individuals in situations of socio-economic vulnerability.
- Contribute to improving the quality of life of the individuals served. This was assessed based on qualitative and quantitative indicators, using validated mental and physical health questionnaires in Spain, satisfaction surveys, and the quantity of services provided.
- Provide stair ascent/descent service to an average of 10 elderly individuals over 65 experiencing unwanted loneliness and involuntary isolation, completely free of charge. The assistance to these 10 individuals occurred on a weekly basis from June to December 2021.
- Offer individualized accompaniments and transportation support free of charge to all participants in need.
In the same year, also in collaboration with the Associació Educativa Xera, we obtained a grant for the "Promotion of personal autonomy and care for aging, disability, and illness" from the Social Work Foundation La Caixa.
Fins Ara acted as a collaborating partner in the project titled Personal accompaniment project with technical support, aimed at improving the work, personal, and family quality of life of people with functional diversity and their caregivers through specialized professional support.
The project provided 150 hours of direct care to a maximum of 50 individuals, offering support to people with functional diversity across different age groups.
In 2020, we obtained a grant from the "Grants to promote self-employment among young people enrolled in the Youth Guarantee program" call issued by the Department of Labor, Social Affairs and Families.
At this juncture, we highlight and express our gratitude to the NGO Action Against Hunger, who incentivized, guided, and supported us in applying for the grant. Thanks to the funds from this grant, we were able to acquire our first portable stair lift and kick-start our entrepreneurship journey.
